AusBonsai

As if I needed another one. I decide to buy another ficus. I have a soft spot for ficus with aerial roots. Maybe because so far I have failed to produce any on those grown by me.

I managed to detangle the roots and its now resting in seasol. Any ideas on how should I proceed to achieve a banyan style. It won't be a very low banyan as the split is a bit higher on the plant. Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

Hi Bonborn ,very nice material .This is what I would do if it was mine. probably wont make much sense but here go's. Get some polly styrene , break down to little shapes and gentle tie each aerial roots to several pieces. Yes every aerial root , I would use grafting tape to do this. Not to tight. Try and get some nice shapes , bends, etc . I would prepare my soil mix , place the growing ends in mix ,now with the aerial roots that you have tied up and bent , slowly place in the desired position and backfill with a coarse mix of gravel or something similar. You will probably get a few extras by next year. Feed heavily and don't cut back anything ,only interested in fattening aerial roots at this stage.
Hope that makes some sense ,good luck......Cheers John.

Thanks Boom64. Why the polystyrene shapes though?

Hello Bonborn,

Have a look at what John's (Boom64) done in this recent thread of his:

viewtopic.php?f=133&t=23452

Looking forward to your updates on this tree too.

Kevin

Hi Bonborn,
Like Kevin has alluded to ,the polystyrene will give the aerial roots some interesting shapes ,or maybe you could let them fall straight and get a curtain effect . Better still get another Tree and have a crack at both styles .
Good luck with whatever you decide. Cheers John.

Thanks for the advice. I'll let it grow out this season. Next season i will prune to push back growth and see what pops out. I'd like to go with the curtain effect.